1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a tester and method thereof, and more particularly, to a tester for a semiconductor device and method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
The electrical characteristics of semiconductor devices may be tested after fabrication. Semiconductor devices may be classified based on the type of electrical signals (e.g., digital, analog, etc.) included within the semiconductor devices (e.g., a digital semiconductor device, an analog semiconductor device, a mixed signal semiconductor device, etc.).
Testers for testing semiconductor devices may also be classified based on the electrical signals of the semiconductor devices. For example, a semiconductor device including a digital signal may be tested by a digital tester, a semiconductor device including an analog signal may be tested by an analog tester, and a semiconductor device including a mixed signal (e.g., analog and/or digital signals) may be tested by a mixed signal tester.
A mixed signal semiconductor device may be a system on chip (SOC) device. Mixed signal semiconductor devices have recently experienced increased demand due to newer technologies (e.g., music and video through a computer interface). A mixed signal tester may test analog signals and/or digital signals.
Conventional mixed signal testers may include a measurement module and a digital tester. The measurement module may not be included within the conventional digital tester. Rather, the measurement module may be connected to the digital tester through an interface (e.g., a TCP/IP communication).
A conventional tester (e.g., digital, analog, mixed, etc.) may require a system bus and a signal board suitable for the system bus. Thus, the conventional tester may require the fabrication of the system bus and the signal board. The development (e.g., the design, fabrication, etc.) of the system bus and the signal board may increase the cost of the conventional tester (e.g., digital, analog, mixed, etc.). Further, conventional testers may not be standardized. Thus, conventional testers produced by different manufacturers may be incompatible.
Although end-users may use the above-described conventional testers, end-users may have difficulty in designing and producing a suitable system bus and/or signal board to interact with the conventional testers. Thus, end-users may be limited to using off-the-shelf testers including the system bus and/or the signal board (e.g., which may be limited in compatibility).